The Daily Indian

The last three states that were curved out in India were Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh. Barring Uttarakhand to some extent, there hasn’t been much development in the states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Both have literally failed to tackle the problem of Naxalism; and corruption is rampant

Arindam Chaudhuri

The untimely demise of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy could not have happened at a worse time. The sequence of events that happened post his death proved the same. If initially it was a major political crisis that erupted with respect to the nomination of a candidate as the next chief minister of the state, later on, it was the demand of K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) for a separate state of Telangana that turned one of the most prosperous and properly administered states into a virtual battleground. The state, which for a very long period has been in the news for its strides in Information Technology and the successful battle against Maoists, is now in the news for all the wrong reasons. True to its style, the government at the Centre easily gave in to the demands of K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who was quick to realise the political vacuum that was created by the death of YSR and found the revival of Telangana movement for a separate state an ideal platform to re-launch his political career graph.

But what was most surprising was the manner in which the decision makers at the Centre and especially in the Congress High Command believed in what they saw in the media and steered according to the way it was ill-advised by some political opportunists who thought that a formal announcement by the Centre to create a separate state would douse the flames that had erupted in Hyderabad and were engulfing almost the entire state. Thus, with the formal announcement of the Centre about its intent to create a separate state like Telangana, for KCR, victory (subsequent to his tactically timed fasting) was imminent. But what he and the decision makers at the Centre did not gauge was the extent to which anti-Telangana sentiments prevail in the state. The resignation drama in the Andhra Pradesh assembly that followed, forced the government to be on the back foot again. But by then, the damage was already done. Even before the Central Government realised its folly in hurrying up the creation of a new state – although not surprising – newer and rather ridiculous demands for newer states started emanating from different regions of the country. There have been fresh movements for trifurcation of Uttar Pradesh into Harit Pradesh and Poorvanchal, and also a shocking Bundelkhand with some regions of Madhya Pradesh too. There have been demands for Gorkhaland, Greater Cooch Behar, Kamtapur as also Vidharba. What is disgusting is that in many cases, these demands for new states have had one individual proponent whose political career depended solely upon the creation of the new states. Thus, while there is Bimal Gurung in Gorkhaland, who has literally isolated that place from rest of West Bengal, there is Ajit Singh of Rashtriya Lok Dal for Harit Pradesh, and then once-upon-a-time part-time actor Raja Bundela leading the Bundelkhand campaign.

The two issues that need attention here are: One, would these proposed new states be viable on their own or not? Two, should new states be created merely to fulfil the political ambitions of struggling politicians? Can states like Bundelkhand or Gorkhaland ever be viable on their own without external support? In the issue of the Telangana movement, Hyderabad is a wonderful case in point. One of the most critical grudges of the pro-Telangana agitators is that the whole region has been deprived of all development which has gone to the coastal regions. Yet, in the last one decade or so, Andhra Pradesh has become synonymous with the incredible development of Hyderabad and its prominence as the pioneering hub of information technology. Now, this development in the once notorious Hyderabad was not brought about by the people of Telangana but by the people of Andhra Pradesh as a whole. Today, Telangana cannot ask for Hyderabad just like that. Billions of dollars have been invested there by people who are not originally from Telangana. Similarly, the calls for a Gorkhaland to be made into a separate state curved out of West Bengal are absurd because, for example, the hill-station of Darjeeling is completely dependent on millions of tourists coming every year from the plain-land of Bengal, and is also dependent on the trade of tea, for which Kolkata is the hub.

The last three states that were curved out in India were Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh. Barring Uttarakhand to some extent, there hasn’t been much development in the states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Both have literally failed to tackle the problem of Naxalism; and corruption is rampant. The common man there is not far better off than what they were before the creation of the states. Of course, people like Madhu Koda have made billions by making the best of the political instability in terms of number games in the legislative assembly.

All in all, even if India needs to create smaller states for better administration, the objective to create such states should be purely based on better governance and overall development rather than caste, creed, religion or regionalism as that would only divide India more. More than that, it is an extremely dangerous precedence to set for the future!

(Arindam Chaudhuri is Editor-in-Chief of Planman Media)

Secretary General National Party, Tahir Bizenjo believes that the option to go for drone attacks in Balochistan by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is essentially an attempt by the US government to encircle Iran.

“Drone attacks in Balochistan ostensibly to eradicate the Taliban leadership based in Quetta will be disastrous, since it will de-stabilise Pakistan,” he said.

“It is essentially an attempt to gain access to neighbouring country Iran, where the Americans are keen to interfere since the ouster of Shah of Iran in 1979,” he said.

In an exclusive interview with TSI, the former senator said drone attacks in Balochistan will be counter productive for the Americans as well since it will heighten anti-American feelings among the people while Taliban would gain sympathy.

“Afghan crisis can’t be resolved through encircling Iran,” he said. “It can be resolved only if India, China, Iran, Russia and Pakistan are taken on board in talks with the Taliban, keeping in view their respective interests in the region,” he said.

Referring to “Balochistan Package” offered by prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani recently, he said it was nothing but a political gimmick.

“It’s a political gimmick. The government has tried to evade major issues,” he said.

“Though slain Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti has been termed as a martyr in the package, the government has announced to form a commission to investigate the murder of Nawab Bugti although everybody knows who was behind the murder,” he said, referring to ex-president Gen (retired) Pervez Musharaf.

“Commissions are formed in Pakistan to put an issue under the rug. Former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto established a commission under justice Hamood-ur-Rahman to investigate about the actors responsible for dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971 but Gen. Yahya Khan was buried with full military honours and he did not spend a single day in jail although he was the main culprit,” he said.

He pointed out that National Party and other nationalist parties in Balochistan suggested that “missing people” should be released and if there was a charge against them they should be tried in a court of law.
“We also suggested that the assassins of Nawab Bugti should be tried in a court of law and everybody knows Musharaf was involved in it. He should also be tried for abrogating the constitution,” he said.
He further pointed out that thousands of people in Marri and Bugti areas have been displaced due to military operation in Balochistan and have been forced to take refuge in Southern Punjab, interior of Sindh and even in Karachi, and they need to be rehabilitated.

“In the second phase, the government could have invited nationalist parties for talks. This did not happen,” he said. “No wonder that National Party and Balochistan National Party (Mengal) have rejected the package,” he said.

“The 27-member committee, led by Senator Raza Rabbani and representing all parliamentary parties was asked to make suggestions ahead of Balochistan Package but the government failed to pay heed to any suggestion,” he said.

“I think the people of Balochistan can still live in a federation provided we make a loose federation confined to foreign policy, currency and defence and all other subjects are handed over to small provinces,” he said.

A suicide bomber blew himself up when he was stopped at a police check post in this northwestern Pakistani city today, killing at least four persons and injuring 11 others in the latest in a wave of terrorist attacks across the country.

The bomber detonated his suicide jacket when he was stopped by policemen at the post outside the State Life Insurance Corporation building on the busy Mall Road in Peshawar cantonment at around 11 am, officials and witnesses said.

A policeman was among the four persons killed, witnesses and officials at the state-run Lady Reading Hospital said.

Several policemen and women were among the 11 injured.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Mall Road is a high-security zone and a school and an office of the Pakistan International Airlines are located in the area.

There is also an army check post on the road. Witnesses said they had seen body parts of the bomber lying scattered at the site of the blast. Several cars were damaged by the explosion.

Ambulances and private vehicles rushed the bodies and the injured to nearby hospitals.

Officials of the bomb disposal squad said the attacker’s jacket was packed with over six kilograms of explosives and ball bearings. North West Frontier Province Sports Minister Syed Aqeel Shah the bomber apparently wanted to target Saddar Bazar, one of Peshawar’s busiest commercial areas located near Mall Road.

“The market is always packed and the bomber could have caused widespread destruction if he had reached there,” he told reporters.
Provincial Senior Minister Bashir Bilour initially told the media that two bombers were involved in the strike but witnesses said they had seen only one attacker blowing himself up after he was stopped at the check post.

The attack came two days after a suicide bomber struck the Peshawar Press Club, killing four persons and injuring over 20, including journalists.

Peshawar has borne the brunt of a wave of suicide attacks and bombings that has killed over 500 across Pakistan since October.

The government has blamed these attacks on the Taliban, against whom the army has launched a major offensive in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

Popular singer Jennifer Lopez will enthrall her New York fans with a live performance in the city’s famous Times Square.

The pop star will be on the live TV segment of the annual Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2010 to be aired Dec 31 this year, reports contactmusic.com.

While Black Eyed Peas will perform for the Las Vegas portion of the show, rock band Rockers Daughtry is set to take to the stage in Manhattan on New Year’s eve.

Other acts featured on the New York show include Rihanna and Shakira, who pre-recorded their performances to air next week.

Expanding the organisational base of the beleaguered Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by reaching out to minorities and Dalits is the first priority of its new chief Nitin Gadkari.

But Gadkari, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member, doesn’t want to tamper with the BJP’s ideology.

‘There will be no ideological change (in the party) because of my arrival,’ he categorically said, at his first media conference after being nominated as the BJP president last week.

Gadkari vowed to take the party back to its lost glory after a flurry of setbacks in the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections recently — the Jharkhand polls being the latest where the BJP bagged only 18 seats, 12 down from the 30 in 2005.

‘In my next three years I have to expand the organisation base. We have to expand vote balance of the party. We will reach out to SC/ST (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes), unorganised labour and do more work for minorities,’ Gadkari said.

He said the belief that the BJP was anti-minority was far from the truth.

‘I don’t believe in discrimination on the basis of religion and language. No such discriminations are acceptable. But appeasement of minorities had become the definition of secularism and appeasement of terrorists has now become the definition of secularism,’ he said.

He asserted that his party was a ‘natural alternate’ of the Congress and he would strengthen the BJP based on his political and organisational planning.

‘Everybody for India and India for everybody is our philosophy,’ he said.

The BJP chief asked the party members to work for development and described politics as ‘an instrument for socio-economic change’.

Summarizing his agenda, the BJP president said: ‘Nationalism is our inspiration, good governance and development are our means and progress of the underprivileged is our aim.’

Gadkari also sought to put to rest reports of division within the party ranks after his name was proposed for the top position.

‘BJP leaders are good. I was a junior activist and have been promoted to the top post despite the presence of stalwarts. Advaniji and Rajnathji said that they are standing behind me. They are supporting me fully.’

He said indiscipline in the party will ‘not be tolerated’.

‘Discipline in the party is not something to talk about, it should be executed. Indiscipline will not be tolerated,’ he added.

U.S. stocks rose at the open on Thursday after data showed jobless claims fell to their lowest level since September 2008, a sign of an improving labor market.

* The Dow Jones industrial average was up 16.63 points, or 0.16 percent, at 10,483.07. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 2.47 points, or 0.22 percent, at 1,123.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 4.28 points, or 0.19 percent, at 2,273.92.

The cabinet on Thursday lifted the cap on the investment some state-run firms can make to set up joint ventures and buy assets in India or overseas to help them expand operations and establish global footprints.

The firms, to be known as “Maharatna”, can spend as much as 50 billion rupees ($1.07 billion) compared with 10 billion rupees allowed to firms known as “Navratna” or nine jewels, the government said.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Subir Gokarn said on Thursday there are possibilities for revisiting forecasts on credit and gross domestic product growth for FY10 in the January policy review. “There are possibilities for doing both.

Considering that we are coming to the end of the year there is nothing much that may change from now,” he told reporters in reply to a question whether the central bank would reduce the projection for credit growth and raise forecast for GDP growth in FY10.

The BSE Sensex rose 0.75 percent on Thursday to its highest close since May 2008, led by gains in auto makers as optimism grew about third-quarter earnings and the long-term prospects of Asia’s third-largest economy.

Tata Motors hit its highest in nearly two years during trade before ending up 4.4 percent at 779.95 rupees, as expectations of robust sales in 2010 lifted the auto sector.

Kotak Securities upgraded Tata Motors to ‘add’ from ’sell’ earlier this week on a view of improving profitability.

Cabinet on Thursday approved Jet Airways Ltd’s plans to raise up to $400 million by selling shares to foreign institutions, the government said in a statement.